City Diary: Turbulence at Fastjet as lawsuit threatens to ground Africa plan

Will Fastjet’s plans to become Africa’s low-cost carrier of choice ever get off the ground?

Diary hears the airline chaired by former Lonrho chief David Lenigas has fallen foul of the Ugandan Civil Aviation Authority, which has brought a high court lawsuit against Fastjet’s Fly540 brand.

The airline regulator asked Fastjet to respond to its complaint relating to invoicing within 14 days of the summons on December 13 last year – otherwise, said the UCAA, it may proceed with the suit and “judgment may be given in [Fastjet’s] absence”.

“Shareholders would expect us only to settle invoices that are accurate and appropriate,” said Fastjet about the ongoing Ugandan litigation, which it claims will have “no impact” on the airline’s future growth.

Remember Paul Hawtin, the DCM Capital founder who launched a hedge fund in July 2011 that used Twitter sentiment to make money for investors? That fund closed by Christmas the same year after trading £650,000 of the £25m promised by investors, which Hawtin blames on the US losing its AAA rating. But now he is back with a Plan B that has cut out the risk – a trading platform called DCM Dealer that uses the same social media principle, backed by entrepreneur Mark Pearson and IG Index. Says Hawtin on his second coming: “We are looking for a lot of volume.”

Fighting spirit at Jessops

“We will be in the middle of the arena, together in blood, sweat and tears, fighting for our futures and we may still be victorious,” said Yates on a phone call with Jessops managers two days after the chain fell into administration, citing former US president Theodore Roosevelt.

But there was no time for “once more unto the breach, dear friends” – Jessops stores were ordered to stop trading just hours after Yates’s “fight them on the beaches” rally. At least the chain’s Liverpool branch knew who to blame – a card posted in the shop window read: “The staff at Jessops would like to thank you for shopping at Amazon.”

It's official: the acronym for the Office for Unconventional Gas & Oil is “Off-U-Go”. As in “off you go and find shale gas”, as overseen by the wonderfully-named new body, whose creation is lifting the spirits of those keen to get cracking on fracking.

Blower’s timely exit

James Blower, the exiting managing director of Clydesdale Bank International, got out just in time, it emerges.

On January 8, Diary reported on Blower’s swansong turn at the Channel Islands Sports Awards, held at the end of this month. A week later, parent company National Australia Bank announced plans to close Clydesdale’s offshore Guernsey unit with the loss of 19 jobs – despite insisting at the time of Blower’s departure that it was “business as usual”.

But Blower claims he had no idea the ship was sinking when he handed in his P45 – his move to Shawbrook Bank has been “in train” since April last year, he tells me.

One reader is unconvinced by the £299 price tag for Tom Winnifrith’s Nifty Fifty share-tipping service on advfn.com, after calculating that the ex-City slicker’s 2012 stock portfolio lost 51pc over last year. “I start with a blank canvas,” says tipster Tom as he rolls the dice for 2013 . . .

Merkel’s scepticism wins US approval

Angela Merkel may not be flavour of month with EADS and BAE Systems after scuppering their $45bn (£28bn) merger plans with a firm “nein”.

But over in America, the German chancellor is a heroine – Aviation Week & Space Technology’s 2012 Person of the Year, no less, for “successfully devastating” the defence deal that threatened to create an aerospace group bigger than homegrown US rival Boeing.

“Merkel possesses a distinct scepticism about majestic visions of European integration,” noted the magazine approvingly.